Virtual Exhibits

This exhibit provides a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the colorful characters and unique traditions that make NIOSA^® one of San Antonio’s favorite annual parties. It also illustrates how proceeds from NIOSA^®: are used to help protect and restore historic properties around the city of San Antonio.

Many credit the 1968 world’s fair held in San Antonio as the catalyst for the city’s modern advancement and its resurgence in tourism and conventions during the latter half of the twentieth century. The urban park where the fair took place, now simply called “Hemisfair,” is no stranger to transformation. Before today’s parkland became an international attraction, it was home to a neighborhood rich in layers of history and culture. This exhibit tells the story of both places, focusing on what locals gave up to create HemisFair ’68, and what they gained in return.

This companion piece to our Heritage Education program allows you to visit all five Spanish colonial missions with the click of a mouse. Find your way around the mission grounds with drawings from the 1890s, step back in time to visit the mission ruins in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and learn more about each mission’s distinctive architectural features. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has recognized the outstanding cultural significance of missions San Antonio de Valero (the Alamo), Concepción, San José, San Juan, and Espada, by awarding them World Heritage Site designation.